"Waiting On God" - Life Lessons From King David

we are in week 2 of our study in the life of David life lessons from King David last week we looked at how God called David and how he might be calling you this week we're going to handle a topic that is kind of difficult sometimes because a little-known fact about King David I mean it's not little known but a lot of people don't know this he was anointed to be king over Israel Samuel showed up last week we looked at first samuel 16 where where samuel showed up and anointed him king chose him as the next king it was 20 years 20 years from the time he was anointed until the time he became king and today in 1st Samuel 24 we're going to look at one of the episodes where David apparently has what appears to be an opportunity to become King right then and right there but instead he continues to wait on God and we're gonna talk about what it looks like to wait on God and why it's important that we wait on God waiting for God to do things or waiting for our lives to to come into God's timing isn't our favorite topic we live in a Mick society I'm hungry I'll go to the drive-thru they will hand me food almost immediately which I will then consume almost immediately our whole life is almost immediately God is not okay and I'm glad that God is not because we've been waiting 2000 years for Jesus to return and I don't know how you feel but I've got lots of family members that aren't saved I know lots of people in the world that still need to hear the name of Jesus I'm glad that God is patient but when we want something or need something it doesn't feel like patience it feels like he's just slow okay we've got to learn to wait now I want to make sure that we understand something this idea of waiting on things is not an excuse not to live for God I think there are some people who don't come to church or don't get involved don't do certain things or because they think well when God tells me to I will I saw an article I should have printed it out and read from it but it's a it was a spoof and it was basically a guy who's involved in the church and he says yeah I wanted to go on the missions trip but the Holy Spirit was really leading me to the church golf outing instead waiting on God isn't like waiting until you get the answer you want but but there are a lot of serious events and and serious considerations and things that we pray about in ways that we can serve and things that we should be doing and sometimes sometimes they don't always pan out the way we think they should or as quickly as we want them to maybe that's a job maybe it's a spouse maybe it's an idea maybe it's a certain ministry I don't know it's what what's going on in all of your lives but sometimes God takes his time for whatever reason and and it's important to kind of look at that and see why so we are in 1st Samuel and we're gonna be in chapter 24 it's not a very long chapter will use it all today I think so 1st Samuel chapter 24 now what's going on is that David has been anointed king Saul has found out that David has been anointed king and even though David showed up and tried to help Saul and has done a lot of good things for Saul Saul is afraid of David because he doesn't want to lose his kingdom and so Saul decides he's going to follow after David and kill him and he's hunting him down and and several chapters in 1st Samuel talked about Saul hunting after David so chapter 24 begins after Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines he was told David is in the desert of Engedi so Saul took 3,000 chosen men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the crags of the wild goats so David Saul is is after David he's pursuing him ok and again I think that it's interesting to note that David he's gonna be king for some of us we have a feeling we know what we should be doing we know we should be serving we know we would have a call to this but we don't do it we know you know we want something in life and God seems to to prescribe that for a family or for you but but it's it's slow in coming okay and and the devil believe me the devil wants you to think that maybe it's not God's plan or the devil wants you to to not focus on God because of of what it is that you think you have to have so so David's being pursued he's trying to kill him this is not a small thing it says he came to the sheep pens along the way before I read this it's just amazing to me how God uses very real-life things to to prove enormous points he came to the sheep pens Saul that is Saul came to the sheep pens along the way a cave was there and saw went in to relieve himself had to poop David and his men were far back in the cave the man said this is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul's robe now I don't know about you but I kind of find this a little humorous I mean it is it's rather funny if you just think of the scene he goes in the cave to poop and David David's matter like there's Saul tell em David doesn't kill him he goes up and he cuts off a corner of his robe and then he he leaves and we're gonna read more about this in a minute but but stop and think about what was going on the men the men immediately saw this as an opportunity to get what they what what what they wanted or for David to get what he wanted and they tried to bring God into this isn't this what God said this is what God told you well guess what when you go through here and look it's not what God told him I mean God may have told him that somewhere and God may have said something like this but this specific moment God never told David to kill Saul he told David you will be king so one of the things we noticed about what we wait for and what we want is we have to be very careful that we don't take what we want and press it into what God says God might make us a promise God might say I have this plan for you but we want it to happen sooner we wanted to look this way or that way when I was looking for jobs to be the Pat to be to change churches before I came here there was one church that I had interviewed at and it was a big church and I liked big churches and and it was a big big Church and I wasn't gonna be the senior minister I was gonna be the director of Christian education but we're talking about like a 2000 member church in a big city it was everything I wanted but it wasn't because God clearly said you have to preach and I would have never preached ever and it would have looked good on a resume and it would have been a good career move but it wasn't what God told me to do and and I probably could have taken that job but before they even got to that decision I said now I'm not even gonna I'm not interested thank you see sometimes we get caught up and God said you're gonna be in ministry I'm going to be in ministry I'm gonna be in a big ministry good nice turns they got it that time out when God tells you something he usually gives you a little more and you can't just take some of it and sprinkle what you want on it and then think you're doing what God says to do God told David you're gonna be king he didn't tell him to kill Saul and what's interesting is they say to do as you wish not only do we sometimes assume that we know what God wants God said go that way so we know exactly we we assume he wants us to go that way and do it our way it's not what we what he wants but they said to do as you wish folks a lot of times God does say do as you wish a lot of times God does give you freedom to live out his plan for you in lots of different ways but it still has to be done his way you know there's a commandment that says thou shalt not kill and Dave is looking at Saul thinking if I stick a knife in him while he's pooping that is definitely killing he has no chance to defend himself he's not attacking me at that moment you still have to do what God has called you to do inside the parameters of how he has called you to live God will not break his own rules to get his own way that's not how God works and so even though that the men said look God gave you something here it couldn't be from God if it's outside of his his parameters if it's outside of his law if it's outside of his rules that's not how he works and David even though he wants to be king actually at this point I'm not sure he wants to be king he knows he's going to be but he's really struggling with how that looks and how that's going to come to be but even though he knows that's his destiny his primary concern is following God I want to honor God I want to do what God says everyday and then the rest of that will take care of itself so let's keep going verses 5 5 6 & 7 here afterward David was conscious stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe he said to the men the Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master this is the guy that's trying to kill him by the way to my master the Lord's anointed or lift my hand against him or he is the anointed of the Lord with these words David rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul and Saul left the cave and went his way this is beautiful David knows God's plan I mean the prophet Samuel who at this point was the most powerful prophet maybe so far in the history of Israel except for Moses showed up an anointed David remember we read that last week you're going to be king David knew this and he still looks at God's plan as Saul's the king God said saws the king and until God takes Saul off the throne he's the king and it says that David was conscious stricken and and it is that's actually a beautiful interpretation because the word their lab means heart the Hebrew word means your heart and the heart is not just the center of emotion but also thought in Hebrew and it basically says and and literally naca means killed struck down stricken it was struck down his heart was killed he was heartbroken over what he had done and I think what we need to be what we need to make sure of is that our heart is broken for the things of God and not for with things we want she sometimes we get in this mode where we want something so bad we feel like it's from God oh I gotta have that I got to do that I want to be that and god says you'll get there but a heart should not our heart should not be longing that badly for the things that we want should be longing that badly for the things that God wants and so sometimes I think the way that that we wait or that the waiting is a function of conviction waiting gets easier as we know God more because our broken heart becomes broken for him rather than broken for our things but in order to get there we have to know God that deeply we have to know God that deeply by the way I'll throw this in now I could throw this in maybe anywhere there's a high price for not waiting you realize that Saul Saul's Kingdom was taken from him primarily because he didn't wait in when you go to 1st Samuel 13 Saul was made King and he wants to do what God wants him to do at first at first he's okay but he gets so impatient first Samuel 13 Samuel says hey you're going into battle wait for me I'll be there in seven days the seventh day comes no Samuel Saul's upset you know what Saul does Saul says bring me the ball bring me the ball I'll do the altar I'll do the sacrifice we gotta go he gets impatient he doesn't wait on God Samuel shows up a little while later says what are you doing you know priest this you're not allowed to do this God said you're not supposed to do this I'm supposed to do this that is what ruined Saul's kingship was his inability to wait on God half a day longer Samuel shows up and who knows what this book looks like we might have King Saul star on the flag of Israel I don't know it's all wouldn't wait so there's a high price for not waiting and in this this juxtaposition this comparison we have between David and Saul what we see is one man's heart that's fixed on God and one man's heart that's fixed on self and the difference between the two and one way you can tell the difference in the two is because the one who's fixed on God waits it's always about God okay verse 7 David says I'm not gonna lay a hand on God's anointed it's about God's plan and you it's I know that it's difficult sometimes to differentiate your plan from God's plan you've got to step back and look is this really what God has said to me is this really what God promises in his word where I'm headed and what I'm doing or is it something I want that I'm asking God to bless there's a difference and we've really got to try to distinguish between them and sometimes waiting and David knows this his heart is broken sometimes waiting is really how God shows us that's all over the Bible to a Acts chapter 5 when the church is starting to grow one of the wise Pharisees Gamaliel says hey let's just wait it out if it's of God we're not gonna be able to stop it anyway and if it's not of God it'll fall apart Jesus told the parable of the weeds you got your wheat growing and the enemy comes and he puts weeds in with the wheat how do you know which one to pick you don't when they're young they look the same over time if you wait it out they grow up you can tell which is a weed and which is the wheat okay so sometimes we have to wait to let God's plan come to fruition and David is right in the middle of that he's waiting his way he's waiting he's waiting but the next part the next section is what we really need to listen to okay you get it we should wait on God but the next part is is important verse 8 through 13 then David went out of the cave and he called out to Saul my lord the king when Saul looked behind him David bow down and prostrate it himself yeah you have to be careful that word prostrating himself with his face to the ground he said to Saul why do you listen when men say David has been son harm you this day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave some urged me to kill you but I spared you I said I will not lift my hand against my master because he is the Lord's anointed see my father is not really his father see my father look at this piece of your robe in my hand I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you now understand and recognize that I am not guilty of wrongdoing a rebellion I'm not wrong you but you are hunting me down to take my life may the Lord judge between you and me and may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me but my hand will not touch you as the old saying goes from evildoers come evil deeds so my hand will not touch you so David confronts Saul of course from a safe distance up on top of the hill Saul's guys are down at the bottom oh hey what does he say Jay says a couple things first of all my lord he pays him honor this is the man trying to kill him he still thought he still honors him and then later on he calls him my father so its honor and it's love father is a term of endearment hey ABBA so so he honors him he loves him and then he says look look what's going on he shows him proof and he preaches to him I mean he basically he says you know the old saying I could find that old saying from evildoers evil deeds in about four places in Deuteronomy if you just want to go right to the Ten Commandments thou shalt not kill I didn't kill you I did what the commandments say okay so so what is going on folks if there's one thing we get from today I want you to hear this the reason that we don't like to wait is because we think waiting means doing nothing and we are doers people like to do stuff if I'm gonna be if I'm gonna follow God I want to I want to do stuff but God said wait waiting does not mean do nothing that's an excuse no we're in here do the people who wait do nothing in fact in the New Testament Paul says everything we do is about waiting we're waiting on Jesus has returned but in the meantime do some ministry in the meantime live for God in the meantime follow what God says to do and and David clearly in this little paragraph he's honoring he's loving he's preaching he's doing godly things and in 20 years of David's life before between his anointing and him becoming King what was he doing he was practicing his faith he was following God he was out helping people the story after story of him helping people he's in battle he starts out trying to help Saul I'm not King yet I'll help the current king so too David never ever sits still and we as we wait we've got to be honoring God and others we've got to be loving we've got to be working we've got to be growing in our faith we've got to be doing ministry I think all God wants I think God wants me in ministry you know what happened to me when I thought God wanted me in ministry I immediately started serving if you can believe it I started out in children's ministry that's the only place in let me preach that only been saved a couple of months and the children's ministers like we had it was a big church about a thousand person church and the children's minister had you know 150 200 kids and little kids in church every week and he was like yeah come on I need all the help I can get okay I mean if you're waiting on God you think God's got this big and for you guess what you do between now and the time that big plant happens you do what that plan looks like you keep doing ministry because God will do some things first of all he will prepare you sometimes sometimes he's got this big plan and he says I can see this person being a great warrior for God I bring a great counselor or comforter of God's people but you're not ready for it and so God takes you through things that will grow you into that person but but we sit back and say well when he does it out I'll do it and along the way he's challenging you and helping you and growing you into what he wants you to be and so we think we're waiting but God is working God is always working okay the other thing is I think sometimes if we're willing to do a little it helps us clearly identify where God wants us I love Romans chapter 12 verse 2 says do not conform any longer to the ways of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind then you will know God's will we said well I think God wants me over there well you know what start serving in that direction and as you grow in him and as you know him or as you see results you'll figure out what he wants it'll he'll paint that picture more clearly for you so not only does he prepare us but he kind of informs us along the way and we've got to understand that that waiting is an active process listen waiting is an active process when you wait on God you also serve God it's how he grows you and how he informs you through that all right God gotta get moving here verse 14 against whom has the king of Israel come out whom are you pursuing a dead dog a flee may the Lord may the Lord be our judge and decide between us may he consider my cause and uphold it may he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand wait a minute what just happened there even was all like lovey-dovey my father my master and then he just just at the end one sentence he kind of stands up to Saul and says don't forget that you are also trying to kill the Lord's anointed Wow wait what do you think that's all about I have a theory just my thoughts I think this is a big deal I think what David understands that Saul doesn't Saul's just going through the motions Saul's just I'm the king I'm supposed to kill all the people who stand up against me David says by the way don't forget God anointed you he also anointed me there's a bigger plan here what I hear in David's voice is a passion folks it's a big deal we talked about waiting on God yeah I know sometimes God's patient know we're waiting for serious stuff God has called us to serve to change the world it's not okay for you to say well when it happens it happens no we should be hungry what does God want from me I want to know because it makes a difference it makes a difference in the lives of your children it makes a difference in the lives of your neighbor it makes a difference in the world we should be hungry for it if we're apathetic in our attitude towards it like Saul was yeah I'm the king I'll kill him if I want what if Saul would have said hey this is the next king I better mentor him I better learn from him until God takes me off the throne can you imagine how amazing the kingdom would of Israel would have been then but that's not what Saul did saw was about saw David was not about David David was about God he was about the kingdom he was about God's purposes and plans this is important stuff that we're talking about and it's worth the wait and the journey to get there will bless you because God's involved so we should be passionate we should be hungry we should want what God wants for us it's worth the wait it's worth the wait let me finish with the to this chapter when David finished saying this Saul asked is that your voice David my son and he wept aloud you are more righteous than I he said you have treated me well but I've treated you badly you have just now told me of the good you did to me the Lord delivered me into your hands but you did not kill me when a man finds his enemy does he let him get away unharmed may the Lord reward you well for the way you treated me today I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands now swear to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father's family so David gave his oath to Saul then Saul returned home but David and his men went up to the stronghold folks look what happens when David I don't know what's the word we want to use waits actively when David waits but with a purpose when he when he wait he's waiting out God's timing but he's still doing the things of God look what happens ministry lives change lives that aren't even born yet Saul says will you bless my family and David says yes yes I will and he does 2nd Samuel chapter 9 we see Saul's family being blessed by David even though David should have killed him mephibosheth shows up at David's door David goes out and finds them brings him back Mephibosheth shows up basically sticks his neck out and says go ahead chop my head off David says get up I made a promise made a promise to your dad and your granddad get up David makes the prince there's ministry going on 20 years down the road because David does what he's supposed to do right here that's how we wait we wait and painting expecting what God has said but we wait actively doing what God has said to do in the meantime serving so we can learn and grow and then God does even bigger things down the road let's pray Lord we just thank you that you want to use everyone in this room that you've given a gift and a purpose to every single person here and Lord our real prayer is that we would have the wisdom to see the big picture to know what you've got planned for us and Lord while we wait on it to happen while we wait for you to build it up to have it come to fruition Lord that along the way we continue to serve you and love you and love the people around us father so that we can know what you want from us more deeply father so that we can be blessed so that we can bring people with us father so that you get the glory we just thank you lord thank you for using us we love you we praise you we ask it all in Jesus name Amen Church how long till we begin to make a difference in society why don't we start doing something because we have the solution and I say we and most of you come to this church because we are doing things but if you look around the kingdom in general the church is asleep at the wheel

Channel: Crossroads Christian Church - Wintersville Campus

Views: 22,230

Rating: 4.8339624 out of 5

Keywords: church, non denominational church, churches, christian church, community church, non-denominational church, bible-based, christ church sports centre, church wintersville, christian churches, non-denominational churches, non denominational churches, community churches

Id: P_ohjq6uGAM

Length: 27min 38sec (1658 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 25 2016